Roz's Website

RozWorks.comVisit my website to view journal selections, paintings, and book arts projects. For the most recent information on classes and workshops please click on "Classes" in the categories list of this blog.

Second "Design Recharge" Interview: April 1, 2015In this second interview with Diane Gibbs at "Design Recharge" we focus on International Fake Journal Month. If you're wondering just what that is, I give a great description of it, and why you might want to participate. Also check out our earlier interview (below on this list) if you want more information about how I approach visual journaling.

First "Design Recharge" Interview: February 12, 2015Diane Gibbs of Design Recharge interviewed me for International Fake Journal Month (2015). We get a little side tracked and talk a lot about sketching, visual journaling, and my creative process. It's a great interview.

Where Is Roz Blogging?

Podcasts with Roz

Danny Gregory and I Discuss Visual JournalingSadly a two part podcast from May 2008 made with Danny Gregory, author of "An Illustrated Life," is not currently available. We talked about journaling, art media, and materials…If this becomes available again in the future I will let you know.

Finding Bits of TimeRicë Freeman-Zachery, author of "Creative Time and Space," talks to me about finding time to be creative. (Taped October 23, 2009.)

Artists Mining Their Sketchbooks for Inspiration

I love looking at the sketchbooks and journals of other artists. I enjoy seeing how their art materials choices make differences in their art. I always learn something from their use of the page, page spread, or negative space. I am curious to see how some artists go totally visual and others lay on the words. Pattern, color, texture (of collage) all draws me in. I have a sense that I am watching the artist work his way to a conclusion in a very personal dialog. I am intrigued by process.

Attraction to this material causes me to seek out sketchbook facsimilies and other published records. I was thrilled to find the fabric artists Jan Beaney and Jean Littlejohn.

I don't know the nomenclature of the fabric art world but this is definitely modern stitchery, not your grandmother's sampler, that these two women create. In this series of books they cover all sorts of new materials and techniques (like melted fabrics and mold-able materials). But they retain a strong basis in traditional approaches (it's just that they are pushing those traditions).

I have about 20 of these short books, each about 24 pages long and all full color. It seems to me that starting in about book 5 their sketchbooks started to make more and more appearances. In fact, I purchased some of these books purely because I liked a sketchbook image and had no intention of even trying their fabric approach! (Also books 7, 8, 10, 11, 13–18 contain some sketchbook images; I don't have books 19 and 20.)

Books 12, 15, and 21 are sketchbook jackpots. If you are interested in how artists in one field use their sketchbooks for idea generation and memory prompting, and simply capturing their lives, you'll enjoy the eye-candy in these books.

The artists work with watersoluble crayons, ink, and gouache in a heavy, dense, lush fashion that matches their stitchery. I could never work with watersoluble crayons like this as I'm too fussy about smudges on the facing pages. I don't know whether these artists use spray fixative or interleave glassine sheets between their journal pages when traveling, but I think not. I think they are just fearless about smudges. Regardless of our own working methods in our journals we can all be inspired by and learn from these fabric artists. And there is the added joy of seeing how they translate their sketches into their more abstract fabric works.

Attention—Give AwayWhile checking out my stack of these books I found that while I was missing a couple "issues" I had two copies of Book 3—Bonding and Beyond. Sadly it is one of the few books that has no journal pages in it! However, it does talk about bonding methods and materials and this will be of interest to fabric artists and collage and abstract artists too. So here's the deal:

1. Send me a note (roz@rozworks.com) with "Fabric book give away" as the subject line. (Only send me one note each please.)

2. In the body of the message say whatever you want: "I want that book, please."

3. DO INCLUDE your name and POSTAL address in the body of the post.

4. Email me BEFORE 1 p.m. (CST) Tuesday, January 13, 2009.

I will do a drawing from the received entries and send out my duplicate book to that lucky reader. You won't see samples of the authors' journals, but you will have a nifty book on "Bonding and Beyond"!

I love looking at the sketchbooks and journals of other artists. I enjoy seeing how their art materials choices make differences in their art. I always learn something from their use of the page, page spread, or negative space. I am curious to see how some artists go totally visual and others lay on the words. Pattern, color, texture (of collage) all draws me in. I have a sense that I am watching the artist work his way to a conclusion in a very personal dialog. I am intrigued by process.

Attraction to this material causes me to seek out sketchbook facsimilies and other published records. I was thrilled to find the fabric artists Jan Beaney and Jean Littlejohn.